Sports
Other Sports

Magic three-pointers tell the tale

TORONTO -- Missing three starters, the Orlando Magic forced the Toronto Raptors to pick their poison -- and then still drilled them.

On an afternoon when the stats sheet -- for the most part -- read like a glowing endorsement of the Raptors, there was one number that sealed their fate. The Magic attempted 32 three-pointers and connected 17 times in a wild 125-116 win at the Air Canada Centre.

It didn't matter that the Raps themselves made good on 59% of their three-point attempts. Or that they outshot the Magic from the field 54% to 44%. Or that Andrea Bargnani, after a disappearing act in the first half, scored 22 in the final 24 minutes.

All of that was made irrelevant by the Magic's superior outside shooting, accomplished without Rashard Lewis (suspended), Vince Carter (sprained ankle) and Mickael Pietrus, who was put back on a plane to Orlando after coming down with the flu.

That's a lot of points not in the lineup but, in their absence, the likes of J.J. Redick, Ryan Anderson and Matt Barnes stepped up to provide 59 points.

Raps coach Jay Triano wasn't pointing fingers at his players, although he could have. Instead, he opted to go the what-else-could-we-do route.

"They had 16 (threes) opening night, too," he said. "This is what they do. They put shooters around Dwight Howard. If you take away the shooters as we tried later, then Dwight Howard goes crazy inside or we foul him like we did and play the odds. He is a 50% free-throw shooter and he had a great night going 14-for-16 (from the line)."

Chris Bosh, with 72 points in back-to-back losses, wasn't as willing to give his club a pass.

"I think we came out flat defensively. We didn't do the things defensively we've been talking about since the pre-season, which is to contest all shots and get the rebound.

"If they're making threes, then we can switch up the game plan. They had a lot of wide open threes and that's what killed us. They made a few with our hands in their face. They were contested and, if they make those, that's fine."

Jameer Nelson, normally a tough matchup for Jose Calderon, continued to give the point guard fits. Nelson had a team-high 30 points, with five threes.

Howard had 24 points and 11 rebounds, but the telling stat was that 14-of-16 from the line. In his first two games, he was 7-for-17 on free throws.

Howard and Bosh, two of the NBA's young elite and good friends off the court, got into it a bit with five minutes left. Howard went inside and, once he had position on Bosh under the basket, the Raptor wrapped him up in a clench that would have been whistled as a horse-collar in the NFL.